Well, it isn’t hard to find if you apply the criteria I have described in the last two blogs, here and here. If you do not want to discriminate about what you read, and you subscribe to the idea that mindless “beach-reading” books are the way to go, then you won’t want to read any further.

My top picks

This is hard to do, like trying to choose my favorite child. While each of my children likes to say he or she is my favorite, and I agree with each one in turn, I really don’t have a favorite. But I digress.

Below I have listed what I consider to be my top classic picks, but somehow I am certain I have missed a few. While my librarian son protests that certain classics are missing from this list, either I haven’t read them yet, or I do not like them very much.

And then I have listed other favorites, lighter reads, not necessarily classics but excellent books in their own right. These two lists consist of what I consider must-haves on the bookshelf. Please send me your favorite titles and tell me why you like them. Don’t send me mindless fluff!

These are in no particular order. Dim the lights; here we go.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (and I love many of her other books as well)

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Beowulf, an anonymous work—phenomenal depiction of the hero epic

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (the only Dickens I can recommend)

Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper (not the movie—it’s all wrong)

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier

Paradise Lost by John Milton

Killer Angels by Michael Shaara (his son, Jeff, has written many more of this same genre, all extremely good)

Taming of the Shrew, Macbeth, King Lear, Hamlet by William Shakespeare (to name just a few)

The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings trilogy by JRR Tolkien

Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Other excellent reads, very enjoyable, almost like dessert.

The entire Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

The Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley

Coming Home and September by Rosamund Pilcher (the closest you will see me getting to any kind of modern romance)

Any of the Lord Peter Wimsey novels by Dorothy Sayers

Anne of Green Gables novels by Lucy Maud Montgomery

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins (warning: disturbing violence)

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Divergent series by Veronica Roth

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Hammer of God by Bo Giertz

Imperial Woman and others by Pearl S. Buck

Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather

Pillar of Iron and others by Taylor Caldwell

The Big Fisherman and others by Lloyd C. Douglas

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Any Jeff Shaara novel

The Firm by John Grisham (and most of his earlier novels)

Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy (and most of his earlier novels–written by Clancy alone)

Wizard of Oz series by L. Frank Baum

The Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis

Winnie the Pooh books by AA Milne

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Charlotte’s Web and The Trumpet of the Swan by EB White

Lord of the Flies by William Golding (Well, not dessert. In fact, don’t eat dessert while reading this.)

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Anonymous

Some links for excellent books, other readers’ top picks. (These are not my picks; consider the sources before you choose a book from here. Also read my blog about the elements of great literature.)

What are your favorite classics? What is missing from my list? Remember my criteria, and remember I reserve the right to shoot down any fluffy books that have the audacity to aim for my classic bookshelf.

3 responses to “A Good Book is Not Hard to Find”

I’m so curious about your comment about Dickens. I loved Bleak House. I read it many years ago and what I remember about it is a powerful story about forgiveness and redemption. I also LOVE Tale of Two Cities. But what keeps you from recommending other Dickens titles?

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